White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer said Wednesday that the prominent Drudge Report website "hurts" the White House's message because of its dominating effect on the news cycle.

Pfeiffer said that he was "ambivalent" to what Matt Drudge links to on his website, but he lamented that the site led to a "Pavlovian response" from reporters.

"Anyone saying anything can get caught up in the spin cycle in a way that is very damaging," Pfeiffer said at a Politico Playbook breakfast with Mike Allen. "It hurts what we’re trying to do, but then it is very damaging to that individual person."

Pfeiffer said that he'll often be approached by reporters who say they have a question strictly because "it's on Drudge."

"What do you say to that?" Allen asked him.

"I sort of ask them to repeat themselves — say that to themselves out loud again and think about it," Pfeiffer said. "And everyone's always a little embarrassed about it and says, 'My boss — my assignment editor's on me about this.'"